


The Things You Can't Ignore

by waitingfover



Series: The world is never simple when family is involved [1]
Category: The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: Angst, Coffee, Exhaustion, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26258758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waitingfover/pseuds/waitingfover
Summary: Exhaustion: “Anders we need...” Mike begins but one look at his brother and he shuts up, instead he ends up driving Anders home and tucking him in, his brother too exhausted to even make a joke when Mike undresses him for bed.Inspired by "One Word At A Time" by Aramirandme82.
Series: The world is never simple when family is involved [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1907746
Kudos: 19





	The Things You Can't Ignore

**Author's Note:**

> My first fanfic. I felt inspired from other works that I've read. I guess we'll see how with goes...

It was early afternoon on Friday when Mike charged past a startled Dawn and into Anders' office. They were all going to have a Thing and Anders hadn't been answering his phone all day. Mike had a sneaking suspicion he was doing it on purpose. Ty had called Dawn to confirm that Anders was at the office. Dawn had told them that he was, but he wasn't talking any calls right now. Mike had been volunteered to go and retrieve Anders for the Thing. If he was honest, Mike was more than ready to drag Anders out of his office by the hair, if need be. Anders was seated at his desk typing lethargically on the keyboard. He didn't look up as Mike burst in. 

"Anders, we need..." Mike trailed off as he finally caught a glimpse of Anders' face. It was haggard and greyish with dark bags under eyes that were barely open. 

"Anders, are you alright?" Mike asked, his previous intentions of dragging Anders to the Thing vanishing as he worriedly surveyed his brother. Anders didn't react. No snark comeback or quippy remark about how Mike should be minding his own business. He just kept slowly typing away, completely in his own world. Mike wasn't entirely sure if Anders was even aware that he was in the room.

"Anders? Anders? Earth to Anders?" Mike tried waving his hand in front of Anders' face. That finally got a response. Anders blinked a few times before looking around confused. He started at Mike for several minutes uncomprehendingly. 

" 'ike?" he slurred incoherently, "Wha' th' 'ell?" 

"And this is him on three cups of espresso. I swear he hasn't slept all week," Dawn declared as she entered the office with letters for Anders. 

"Is that true Anders?" Mike demanded. Based on the way Anders was looking now, he didn't doubt it. Anders didn't answer. He simply started reading through the letters Dawn had given him. Or at least, it looked like he was reading them, but Mike had his doubts. Five minutes was way too long a time to read an address on an envelope. He reached out and gently shook Anders' shoulder. Anders started. He stared at Mike in confusion.

" 'ike? Wha' th' 'ell?" 

"I'm going to take that as a yes," Mike commented with a shake of his head. Anders just furrowed his brow and continued to stare at his older brother. Mike had to admit, he made for a rather pitiful sight at the moment. 

"And, apparently, I'm going to take you home," Mike sighed. Something in what Mike was saying must have finally connected in Anders' brain because he sat up a bit more and tried to look more awake. 

"N-no. 've got to...to...to..." Anders trailed off in a massive yawn as he weakly gestured to his desk. 

"Yeah, no, that’s not going to happen. You need sleep, Anders."

"I've been telling him that all week," Dawn said. 

"All week?"

"Yup. And does he listen to me? No, of course not! He bloody well doesn't have any common sense when it comes to his own preservation," Dawn ranted. Mike noticed that Anders had zoned out again, slumping back against his chair.

"Come on, Anders," Mike gestured toward the door. After a few moments, Anders made no move to stand, so Mike hauled him upright. Anders swayed and took one step before his knees buckled. Mike caught him before he face-planted into the carpet. To compensate for Anders' inability to walk, Mike slung Ander's arm over his shoulders, taking some of Anders' weight. He half expected Anders to pull away in protest, but he didn't. In totally un-Anders fashion, he accepted Mike's help without a second thought. Now Mike was really worried. Getting him out into the car wasn't too hard. Anders was a zombie barely taking in what was happening. They were about half to Anders' flat when Anders slowly turned and squinted at Mike. 

" 'ike? Wha...?"

"I'm taking you home. Don't you remember?"

"C'nt go 'ome."

"What do you mean?" 

" 'lud'd," Anders yawned. Mike gave his brother a confused sideways glance. Anders was struggling to sit upright, exhaustion written all over his face. 

"Come again?"

" 'ipes 'urs' 'lud'd m'lat," Anders repeated his gibberish with slightly more conviction as he pitifully pawed at Mike's arm. Mike decided it had been clearer the first time Anders had spoken. Anders continued to mumble in a rather distressed way from the passenger's seat. 

"Alright, alright, we won't go to your place. We'll head to mine," Mike relented. Anders gave a slight nod. Or at least that's what Mike thought it was. A second look showed that Anders was nearly asleep sitting up. Every time he swayed in the seat, he would jerk back awake, eyelids fluttering. Mike felt kind of bad for him and drove a little faster. 

* * *

They made it to Mike’s place a short time later. Mike helped Anders out of the car and towards the door. It was then that Mike remembered that Ty, Axl and Olaf were waiting inside. He groaned. Well, it was too late to take Anders anywhere else now. Anders could barely walk by the time they made it to the door. They were greeted by questioning stares before everyone started talking at once. 

"Umm, I don't think we meant for you to actually drag him down here."

"Jeez, isn't it a bit early in the day to be drunk, even for him?" 

"What the hell happened to him?"

"He's not drunk, Axl, just exhausted. Yes, Grandpa, I had to drag him here. It was either that or let him sleep at his office. Ty, I have no idea what happened. Just take his other side and help me get him to the bedroom," Mike commanded. Even with Ty's help, it still took what felt like an eternity to Anders to the bedroom. Once they were there, Mike divested Anders of his suit coat, tie, dress shoes, button down and slacks. He slipped Anders into one of his own shirts and then settled him in the bed. The entire time, Anders kept nodding off, only to jerk back awake. He was asleep before Mike had even finished settling him in the bed. Mike paused in the doorway to watch Anders sleep. Anders looked years younger in his sleep, the lines and wrinkles of stress slowly melting away. Mike found himself wishing he could keep Anders that way. With one last glance, he headed back out to the rest of the family. 

* * *

Anders slept all the way until lunch the next day; a full sixteen hours. No one had left since he arrived yesterday, so when he emerged from the bedroom with tousled hair, still rubbing sleep from his eyes, he was met with a sort of organized chaos in the kitchen. Ty was preparing food for everyone and attempting to keep Axl from stealing it all. Mike and Olaf were having a heated discussion at the table. However, they all stopped what they were doing once he entered the room. Still not fully awake, Anders gave everyone a nod before heading straight for the coffee maker. Axl, especially, couldn't stop staring at Anders. His normally well-put together brother was anything but that. He was wearing one of Mike's shirts (it was way too large and very wrinkled) and his dress slacks (also very wrinkled). He was barefoot and his hair was sticking up at all sorts of strange angles. The following silence was only broken by the sound of the coffee maker percolating. Mike cleared his throat.

"So, Anders, why... no, what on earth was that about yesterday? I've seen zombies that looked better than you," Mike finally said. Anders looked up from the coffee maker with confusion.

"I think what he's trying to ask is: why did you look like shit yesterday and act like you haven't slept in a week," Olaf commented. Anders blinked. 

"Oh, that. Yeah. The pipes burst, flooded my flat. They've been working on repairing it for a few days now, so I've been sleeping at the office, or at least trying to. I go back home in the mornings to feed my fish and change clothes," Anders said with a shrug before he went back to watching the coffee percolate. 

"So what you're telling us is that you opted to sleep at your office instead of bunking with one of us?" Ty asked skeptically. Anders shrugged again. 

"I said I tried to sleep. I didn't say I slept."

"You couldn't sleep? Why not?"

"It's hard to sleep when you're surrounded by things that need to be done. Ended up completing them instead of sleeping," Anders responded, pouring the coffee into a mug.

"How long has this been going on for?" Mike demanded.

"Since Monday."

"Anders! Why didn't you tell us?" Mike exploded. 

"Honestly, I didn't think you'd actually care," Anders admitted softly, staring down at his coffee. He braced himself for Mike's vehement denial or maybe outbursts from Ty and Axl. What he got was quite different. He looked up in surprise when he felt Mike's hand land lightly on his shoulder. His older brother's brow was wrinkled in concern. 

"Of course we care, Anders. You're our brother," Mike murmured, "I just hope you realize that next time before it's too late." The moment was interrupted by a rather unhelpful comment from Axl: 

"So, this is great and all, but can Ty finish lunch? I'm starving."


End file.
